Mützenich accuses Lindner of foul play on restaurant tax
The reduced VAT is coming to an end and it is clear to Finance Minister Lindner whose fault it is: the SPD and the Greens. SPD parliamentary group leader Mützenich does not want to take this lying down and tells his own version of the story.
There is a row in the traffic light coalition over the plan to phase out reduced VAT in the catering sector. SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich accuses Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the FDP of making false public statements about the background to the decision. "It is a mystery to me why the Finance Minister is suddenly distancing himself from joint decisions on the upcoming budget," Mützenich told Stern magazine.
"Fair cooperation looks different," complained Mützenich. "We had also found an amicable solution to the reduction in VAT for the catering industry. Mr. Lindner then unilaterally took this topic off the agenda."
Lindner had blamed the SPD and the Greens for the new restaurant regulations in the newspaper "Bild am Sonntag". "If all parties had pulled together, a further extension would have been possible," said the FDP politician. He was suggesting that he himself would have liked to extend the reduced VAT rate in the catering sector and had failed due to resistance from his coalition partners.
Lindner's comments caused irritation among the SPD and the Greens. The new dispute comes amid a difficult debate on how the coalition should deal with the latest ruling from Karlsruhe, which declared the financing of the Climate and Transformation Fund null and void. The decision of the Federal Constitutional Court has torn a hole of 60 billion euros in the plans of the coalition government.
Mützenich strongly disagreed with Lindner's assertion, stating that the FDP leader was incorrectly placing blame on the SPD and Alliance 90/The Greens for the end of the reduced VAT in the gastronomy sector. Despite Lindner's claims in "Bild am Sonntag," Mützenich mentioned that they had previously agreed on an amicable solution to continue the reduced VAT, but Lindner unilaterally withdrew the topic from discussion. This latest dispute adds to the coalition's challenges, as they are also grappling with the aftermath of the Federal Constitutional Court's decision declaring the financing of the Climate and Transformation Fund null and void, causing a significant financial hole of 60 billion euros.
Source: www.ntv.de
